Culturing/farming paramecium Protozoa techniques

[sixty_reefer]

Hi folks, I’ve been growing saltwater Paramecium Protozoa in my tank for some time and more recently added some of them to vessels in attempt to farm it on a separate culture.

The ideal behinds in attempting this cultures is to attempt/experiment in feed difficult to keep organisms in saltwater aquaria such as crinoids and some NPS.

I’ve been told in another thread that there is many folks also cultivating saltwater paramecium and I was looking to see if I could get some tips in order to improve my cultures, in addition I’d like to know if there is any health hazards involved in this.

@Jay Hemdal, do you culture this in your line of work? Any tips you could share? Thanks

@AquaBiomics would a e-dna test on my culture be able to determine wich paramecium species I have? Or would it only identify the bacteria?

This is how my starter culture looked like under the microscope 100 magnifications, in the vessel is not as concentrated just yet but I can see a improvement.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Any news on the new method?

Hi, still working on it, just made this thread to try and gather more information and possible techniques. I have micro copepods and paramecium in the culture.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Hi, still working on it, just made this thread to try and gather more information and possible techniques. I have micro copepods and paramecium in the culture.

Sorry - I’ve only cultured microalgae, rotifers, and mysids (and copepods a few times).

With these, protozoans are usually considered contaminants, so we’d cut out those “infected” culture vessels (grin).

Jay

 

[sixty_reefer]

Sorry - I’ve only cultured microalgae, rotifers, and mysids (and copepods a few times).

With these, protozoans are usually considered contaminants, so we’d cut out those “infected” culture vessels (grin).

Jay

Thank you, I would imagine if you not done it that it’s not a popular live food as I was led to think.
Ive recently found out that some folks use paramecium in fresh water although I haven’t heard of it personally being used in saltwater. Could you think of any possible issues in experimenting with it? Would it be a possible health hazard?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thank you, I would imagine if you not done it that it’s not a popular live food as I was led to think.
Ive recently found out that some folks use paramecium in fresh water although I haven’t heard of it personally being used in saltwater. Could you think of any possible issues in experimenting with it? Would it be a possible health hazard?

I only cultured foods for larval fishes, and using these for feeding invertebrates would be new to me.

Euplotes was cultured early on as a food for larval clownfish, but it didn’t work.

The only possible health hazard would be if you accidentally cultured Uronema. It is a pretty non-descript ciliate, but can cause health issues in fish (it is often present in low numbers in most aquariums though).

 

[sixty_reefer]

I only cultured foods for larval fishes, and using these for feeding invertebrates would be new to me.

Euplotes was cultured early on as a food for larval clownfish, but it didn’t work.

The only possible health hazard would be if you accidentally cultured Uronema. It is a pretty non-descript ciliate, but can cause health issues in fish (it is often present in low numbers in most aquariums though).

Thanks jay, no fish in this system.